Not cats or bats but hats. Beware. … That is my unsolicited advice to the next Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. Were the great man to give me two minutes of his time and seek my counsel, I would urge him to remember that inappropriate headgear can be deadly.

Just ask Michael Dukakis. The Democrat Party presidential candidate in 1988 ran a skillful primary battle against his party opponents, but let Vice President George H.W. Bush define him in the general campaign. The man behind the “Massachusetts miracle” was painted as being soft on crime and weak on defense. Remember the Willie Horton ads? Don’t blame Bush for that one, however. Al Gore first came up with that attack in the primaries.

However, Gov. Dukakis did try to push back on the soft on defense issue and made a campaign stop at a tank manufacturing plant. The erstwhile president climbed into an M1 Abrams tank and seated in the commander’s chair drove round the proving grounds. This should have provided an opportunity for photos demonstrating the Democratic contenders pro-military bona fides. Some great shots would have been the governor shaking the hands of the (union) workers building the tanks – pushing the honest labor or Rosie the Riveter motif. Or he could have dressed in casual but manly work clothes peering into the depths of an engine or gun system with a soldier demonstrating his craft.

What hit the wires was the Governor wearing a large helmet peering out of the top of a tank with a goofy grin splashed across his face. The helmet made Michael Dukakis look like a child and achieved the opposite effect, appearing ridiculous and soft on defense issues at the same time.